Thanks Russ.
Performance is very subjective with some many 'depends' variables. Art & design are 'in the eyes of their beholder'. However sure, it would be great to see heavy weight pros compare their creations, which already are in the market place - I think. I am just glad to be around and learn from pros - with anything new to learn, there will be mistakes. Hopefully I won't repeat too many of mistakes in a long knife making journey ahead.
I love this thread. I must check it 6 times a day. Blunts 52100 must be right on the nail.
It would be so cool to have all the custom guys have a contest with a specific steel, knife shape etc...
Bragging rights would be a pretty big deal on here. Just saying... Russ
Thanks for the link Andy.
Many chopping-competition competitors are using cpm-m4 (and perhaps more will use k390), to win it requires good performance out of these steels for competition tasks (delicate & hard tasks). For a large knife which subject to hard/impulse chopping forces, critical to have sufficient toughness, hence reduce the hardness as a trade off. 52100 can be a fun chopper. In Aug, I bought some thick 52100 bars for forging a few choppers but all my time have been spent on tinkered around with ht & made functional knives (ahem... not too good with F&F). I really don't know how a well thought out ht 52100 would perform. I will to make some & learn, I reckon.
3V at mid hrc (~59-60) is known for its excellent toughness, so can a 52100 with same hardness compete in an endurance test? IDK. When time permits, I'll try and see.
Assuming that san-mai very thin k390 core and 420j jacket is possible. That would make a great knife with crazy toughness from 420j and everything else from k390. Hey, where I can get some
I don't know the properties of CPM-M4 and/or K390 in terms of toughness but it seems that a differentially heat treated 52100 (hard egde, springy spine) would make just about the best steel for a larger camp knife/chopper as well, possibly "better" than V3. I am surprised that not more custom knife maker use that steel (I know a few custom knifemakers who actually prefer 52100, first and foremost Ed Fowler of course, but I really like Burt Foster's approach. Check this out:
http://www.burtfoster.com/steel_heat_treating/carbon_steel.htm)
Or, how about a San-Mai construction with K390-core and 420 mild steel?
Speculatively, O1 would be a tad below D2.
Also, the Mora carbon is likely 1095, so I wonder also where O1 would score?? Would it be similiar to CPM-154 ?
We don't. But I would curious to find out how that knife edge will after chop dry oak (cross grain & 25 degree with grain) - trying to factor out geometry & dry bone fracture aspect.
One more thing though bluntcut. I know, I keep mention it in various threads but I just can't ignore the fact that spot on heat treatment is absolute essential for edge retention and toughness. Even though 1084 scored mediocre here, I always remember Nick Wheeler's wip thread making a large camp knife out of 1084 (well, it's 1084+15N20 if I remember correctly but that does not make a difference). He chopped dried antler with this knife (HRC 59) without adverse effects on the edge. I guess I want to say, do we need anything better than that?
lol ...
